There is an ancient story of the Hindu God Shiva, and the terrible death of Sati; the first incarnation of his later wife, Parvati.
In the story, Sati and Shiva meet when Shiva is still a practicing ascetic. Sati, being the perfect feminine aspect of Shiva, decides that Shiva is the only husband she will accept. Shiva, compelled by her intention, finds her, and the two fall deeply in love.
They marry, despite knowing that Sati’s father, Daksha, disapproves of the union.
In retaliation, Daksha plans an important fire sacrifice ceremony, inviting all of the nobility of the Divinity; but excludes Lord Shiva and Sati.
Sati decides to go anyway, planning to confront her father on his rejection and insult, but her father treats her badly in front of these esteemed guests, heaping more insults upon her and her absent husband.
Unable to bear the disrespect of her father, and the humiliation intended for her beloved, she throws herself into the sacred ceremonial fire and self-immolates.
Shiva is understandably enraged. In his fury and grief, Shiva creates a mighty warrior, who, along with his own feminine consort, destroys the sacred fire, along with the ceremonial grounds, and decapitates her father.
Shiva then gathers the burnt remains of Sati into his arms, and travels the entire cosmos with his wife’s burned body in his arms, renouncing the world and his duties to it, fully “in” the grief of losing his beloved.
The stories differ on this, but after some years, Sati’s body falls into 52 pieces across the Indian subcontinent, and Shiva returns to earth. He forgives Sati’s father, but replaces his head with that of a goat.
Eventually, Sati reincarnates as Parvati, and the two are reunited once more. Balance is restored for them, as well as the earth.
I am not religious.
That is to say, I don’t subscribe to any specific religion, though I believe we can find great value in ancient spiritual texts and doctrines. I believe that they were created to provide a roadmap to our inner selves; the stories, parables and “truths” meant to show us the “Kingdom of God” within; the greatest version of humanity, and what marvels, miracles and wonders we are capable of; if we let go of our egoic constructs, learned fears, behaviors, and limiting belief systems, and embrace the fullness of who we are.
The story above is a beautiful example of the full spectrum of human experience and expression – love, rebellion/holding personal truth in the face of another’s’ opinion and expectation, humiliation, self-sacrifice and transformation, stubbornness, grief, rage, retribution, losing our way, finding it again, forgiveness, humor, and eventual completion, as Shiva re-integrates with his love; the essential feminine aspect of his Divine nature.
Our power as humans comes from our authenticity. From owning the complexity of who we are. The only way to experience true, transformative authenticity is to release egoic barriers of fear, self-protection and the need to be perfect; to recognize and validate the many “archetypes” within each of us, and allow each of these aspects to come forward, as they are needed.
Authenticity means letting go of a fixed identity; dropping our learned patterns and the masks we wear to find acceptance, and live with complete self-honesty; accepting and embracing the fullness of all of our emotions, our desires, our passions and complexities, and our love.
It is alignment with the light – and the shadows within each of us.
It is the acceptance that we are complex creatures, capable of holding what might feel at times like paradoxical truths, in the same timeframe of our reality:
✨ Life – and the relationships we share with others in this time-space reality – can be hard, frustrating, chaotic, heavy, and sometimes downright awful – and also achingly beautiful, wonderful, fun, light, loving, and provide us with necessary connection, love, balance and healing.
✨ We can be kind, holding others with compassion and empathy – and still choose to set firm boundaries to protect our own precious soul. We can hold forgiveness in one hand, and remembrance in the other.
✨ Loss of any type, whether it is a job/career, and idea, or a loved one, is awful, yet can also lead to incredible self-growth.
✨ Grief sucks. Losing those that we love is terrible. It can be earth-shatteringly painful, and can rearrange our atoms into structures that feel unrecognizable.
Allowing ourselves to sit in the center of our grief and pain is absolutely awful – and it is the only way to truly move through it, to the lightness and gratitude for the time we had with those loved ones, waiting on the other side.
This life is contrast and complexity; light and dark, hot and cold, beauty and ugliness, fun and boring, joy and pain. The miracle of us, as humans, is that we contain all of this contrast within the microcosm of the Universe that is our inner world; reflecting outward.
We become alive and active co-creators of this reality with the recognition and acceptance of this fullness.
It is also the most direct route to creating a life of abundance and joy.
If you are new here, welcome! I am so glad to have you on this Soul Safari.
If you have been following for a while, I would love to know how some of what I write may have inspired or ignited your own journey to the Self, purpose, and the beauty and joy of co-creation that I believe we are here to experience.
Big love.💖
- Terah
This Blessed Sacred Life 